FBI Director Christopher Wray announced on Wednesday that he would step down from his position on Jan. 20, coinciding with President Joe Biden’s last day in office.
Wray reportedly told employees at the agency that he made the decision so that attention would be focused on their work of fighting crime instead of on his fate.
Donald Trump has said that he intends to nominate loyalist Kash Patel to be FBI director. Wray’s term in office is not set to expire until 2027, since FBI directors usually serve for 10-year terms.
Trump praised Wray’s decision in a post on his Truth Social platform, writing, “The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice.”
Trump appointed Wray to the position in 2017 after firing its previous director, James Comey. Trump was angry that Comey had authorized the FBI to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, even though it is a core part of the agency’s job to defend America against threats.
Russia interfered in the election with the intent of helping Trump to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump later soured on Wray because Wray allowed the agency to investigate allegations of criminal wrongdoing by Trump. It was on Wray’s watch that the agency raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, where they found he was in possession of classified documents. Trump was later charged, but the case was later dismissed by a Trump-appointed judge.
Patel is a conspiracy theorist who fed Trump back-channel information on Ukraine as part of Trump’s efforts to smear political opponents. Trump was later impeached for misusing his office in that campaign.
After Trump lost the 2020 election, Patel promoted lies that the race had been stolen by President Joe Biden, and argued that the federal government should target news outlets that had debunked election falsehoods.
Patel also authored three children’s books starring a thinly veiled version of himself and Trump (as a king) fighting against Democratic plotters seeking to usurp an imaginary kingdom.
Wray’s resignation will make it politically easier for Trump to install the fiction writer as the head of America’s chief law enforcement agency.
Editor’s note: The story has been updated with a statement from Donald Trump.
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